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That's telling because HP still leans heavily on traditional PCs, while Apple and Samsung have shifted their product emphasis to smartphones and tablets.

And while Samsung leads in shipments (see chart below), Apple leads in value.

"The fact that Apple's [average selling price] is $310 higher than Samsung's with just over 20 million fewer shipments in the quarter speaks volumes about the premium product line that Apple sells," Ryan Reith, an IDC analyst, said in a statement.

Translation: Apple's products are pricey but consumers buy them anyway.

And what does the future hold? In 2011, PCs -- a combination of desktop and laptops -- accounted for 39.1 percent of the smart connected device market. By 2016 it is expected to drop to 19.9 percent, IDC said.

Smartphones will be the "preferred product category" with share growing from 53.1 percent in 2011 to 66.7 percent in 2016, while tablet share grows from 7.7 percent in 2011 to 13.4 percent in 2016.

About the author

Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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